Super 1: TKM

[speedy king]

Think Cassey Watson was racing in the championship i was last year at Ellough

[speedy king]

By the bad luck you two both suffered i don't think i would have been able to keep a cool head

[#15 tkm 4/]

yup, i know i was very tempted to get annoyed and shout at him but he's a very big bloke... i'll just have to wave to him when i overtake him a kimbolton next month :P

p.s. no you dont get a trophey for 6th, only the top 3 maybe 4.

[speedy king]

When you pass him, do either what i done last year to someone who held me up (stick two fingures up at him) or what another racer done to the same driver, get along side him, look at him and wave your fingure round in circles at your head!

[crozier74]

Or, on the other hand, let your driving do the talking, either give him a nice friendly bump, or totally run away from him off into the distance, blitzing his lap times and leaving him totally gutted.

I've gotta admit, I've probably stuck my fingers up in the air more than any other driver in Scotland, but I'm now biggining to realise that it ain't particularly clever, and just makes you look like a prat in front of the spectators.

[tator2001uk]

HAHAHA I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[#15 tkm 4/]

speedy king [what another racer done to the same driver, get along side him, look at him and wave your fingure round in circles at your head!]

hehe ive done that soo many times it's like second nature to me i'll just leave it to the good ole, when overtaking him make sure i just stare at him as i go past and then pull away :P

[speedy king]

I was behind the guy when he done it, i was laughing but i knew i had to keep concentrating. And Crozier, i accelerated in to the back of him out of the hair pin to basically tell him to move over as he had the blue flags for the previous 3 laps and was trying to race us (leaders)

[tator2001uk]

Hey up, saturday was a joke, my thermostat engine wouldnt run as well as a comer 60, so we threw it off on saturday night and put an old style motor on, what a difference.

1st race 11th on grid, wouldnt fire up, i was fuming all 26 karts apart from mine started, until after 2 laps it got going, away i went 2 laps down to set the 6th fastest lap ut finish a great 22nd although i did gain half a lap on the leaders soo hope was there!

2nd race 10th on grid and awa i went chopping and changing places, it was wet, couldnt see a thing down the straight and my tyres were brand new and too skiddy!!! so i finished 9th happy with that put me 16th on the grid for final!

So the weather had dried up and wind blew the track to give it a dry line, we were final 6 so after the junior max and minimax drivers on slicks had all piled off onto the grass at the first corner, idecided i was going to use older wets with less tread, it was a risk, so sat on the grid me being th only one i was quoted as being "stupid" "thick" and "hasnt a clue" until just as we were to go out rain!!!!!!!!!! Being an open meeting they had no right to let others change, i kicked off they said it was for safety, so i picked my kart up with a few others and raced to the end of the pit lane and went onto the trACK!! they made us do 2 warm up laps, by this time the top runners who were on slicks had caught up and gone passed into grid, for some reason i was way down than i should have!!! anyway first corenr bang someone spins on slicks, everyone goes round the outside, i take to the grassy inside, up into about 10th come on!!!! then i was fuming about the tyre issue so i left them for dead and started picking them off infront (only my 5th ever meeting) i was up to forth and some dick backmarker who had spun at first corner, wouldnt let me by and then tried ramming me off the track!!!! i lost a place but held on to 5th after 12 laps setting the 3rd fastest race time soooo happy a nice shiney trophey that shows for my efforts!! sorry it was long!!!

[crozier74]

Holy ****e man!! You are seriously quick for your lack of experience Or is it just cos everyone else at GYG in Max is rubbish...

Anyways, very well done
Better than me and Sammy last weekend anyways

[tator2001uk]

Its me i must be quick!!! at last without that thermo engine, just think where i could have been! hey and there are at least 6 drivers there who are doing super 1, and i even got asked if i was hahaha, no money!!!!

[#15 tkm 4/]

yup, well done... why do rotax have lots of differnt engines thermostat engine, what differnce should that make??? *bit stupid about rotax's here*

Anyway's crozier have you ever drivern at kimbolton? *next round* i love that circuit i personally think it's the best one on the super1 calander

[crozier74]

Nope, never driven on 5 of the 6 S1 tracks before. Only at Larkhall, but plenty of experience there, raced there pretty much since I began. Never raced on the new surface before though, only tested on it, first race on it will be weekend before Kim. Also have been to PF before, when I popped down the road when I was racing at Fulbeck, but didn't drive it - the contrast between those 2 tracks so close together has got to be one of the biggest in the world!!

So Buckmore, Kimbolton, Lydd (yeah, right ) and Whilton are all totally new experiences for me

From what hear, you're not the only one that really likes Kim. Have never heard anyone come away from it with bad things to say about the place, always positive, so looking forward to racing there. I usually go well on faster tracks than twisty ones anyway, so can maybe hope for a slightly better result too (Shouldn't be hard, only need to stay out of trouble for more than 1/4 races this time, but in the heat of the moment that's easier said than done! )

[#15 tkm 4/]

lol, yup and you DEFFENTLY want to watch out for the first corner as the tyre barrier is bout 1metre away from the edge of the track, so there is always a kart twisted up there! bit stupid considering it's after the longest straight on the track... nice wide track though

p.s watch out for the massive bloody kerbs! i know a mate whole rolled it just byu touching the kerb!

[speedy king]

Take the above advice VERY seriously! The curbs are HUGE, best to avoid them. I thought the longer of the straights was going out off in tot he fields after the complex of turn one, two and the little kink which you can slide through lovely? Fantastic track and very very fast, even in a Junior Rotax 85mph+ easily, my alfano dosent display mph but someone who has the enxt grade up said he recorded just over 90mph, though i wouldn't write that in stone.

and the run off at turn one is pathetic, best to check your brakes before you head off on track...

[#15 tkm 4/]

yup, but they have added like a new chicane into the the straight before the barn, its now like two chicanes in a row :S

[speedy king]

They don't use the first of the chicanes any more, or certainly they didn't at the club meetings, it just goes straight to the barn and that awkward little thing of a corner at the end

[#15 tkm 4/]

i ment its like to chicanes joined into one BIG corner, if that makes any sense

[speedy king]

Where do you get the Super One stickers for your kart?

[crozier74]

At the S1 events themselves. There's a support trailer at the track which hands out the sponsor stickers free of charge. The S1 official number plate stickers can be bought from JKH.

[#15 tkm 4/]

the only thing is they dont have offical sticker's for tkm 4 stroke (red background, yellow number) btw crozier, good meeting you, and we are completly rebuilding the rear of the kart again so we dont get the same problems again... did you enjoy the circuit? shame about your final though.. well done neways!

[speedy king]

What happened with your kart? This was at Kimbolton wasn't it?

[crozier74]

Yep, Rd 2 @ Kimbolton.

Did you eventually find out what the problem was Sam? Bearings? Axle? Was a very good meeting for you too up to that point, with a very impressive 3rd and 4th. You were making your way up through the pack nicely in the final before your problems.

Well, it was a real up and down day for me.

On the one hand, my speed and competitiveness were definitely up on what they were at Buckmore. I was every bit as fast, if not faster, than my team-mate Ian Munro. And I had a better rate of clean races - 2/4 as opposed to 1/4 at Buckmore. So some definite encouraging signs there

But on the other hand, I had some absolutely ****e luck, and the results ended up as an absolute disaster, probably ruining my championship already.

My first heat wasn't too good, lost 4 places from my already lowly 14th grid slot, and failed to capitilise on the opportunity presented to me to run away from the group I was battling in when they all messed up @ Kimbolton Corner & let me through, and just dropped back into their clutches again

Heat 2 was the deciding point of the meeting for me. I was 2nd on the grid, and got a pretty good start to go side-by-side with the polesitter into T1. But then he got hit up the back into a spin and a small pile-up ensued. Luckily I managed to avoid any contact and weave my way through the mess and come out in 8th, but I was at least happy that I was still in the hunt. From that point on I pleased myself and my fellow spectating Scots by pretty much holding on to the leading group for the rest of the race. I was lying in 10th, what would have been my best result of the season so far, when that prick Daniel Graham (an infamous firer) pointlessly rammed me hard up the back under braking for the Hangar Complex, sending me sliding across the grass and into the tyres. I was ahead of Rossi on merit at the time, and with a 6 second gap to the rest in 15th downwards, I would have surely finished a minimum of 14th if the carrot hadn't fired me off. As it was, I finished 24th and last, losing at least 10 points, without which I would have quite probably made it straight into the 'A'.


Heat 3 was my lowest grid slot (21st), and I managed a clean if unspectacular race to make up 3 places, and set up a beautiful pass on my team-mate Ian through the Willows on the last lap.

I was down in 9th on the grid for the 'B' Final, so had it all to do. I was a bit too cautious through the first corner and lost one or two places, and then had to take to the grass in the Willows to avoid fellow Scot Cameron Craig who had been hit into a spin just in front of me. That left me a number of seconds down on the vital 4th qualifying place. But with everyone battling hard over it, I managed to close in quite quickly, and made my way through nicely, passing several in one go on the exit of Stow as they slowed each other, and a textbook pass on Joel Mulholland into Stow soon after. But at exactly the halfway point my race went to rat****. James Birch screwed up at Hangar, and everyone bunched up on the left of TKM Straight, before passing him as he pulled over to the right. I moved to go up his inside through Kestrel as well, and he left enough room for one kart, and one kart only. But boy Mulholland decides there's room for two, and goes straight into my sidepod. He's got a clutch, he keeps going, I'm at a standstill and stalled. Ian's dad Richie tried to get me going, but he's got a bad back, so would have been much easier for me to just run along with the kart like I do with Dad, but in the heat of the moment I forgot. Combine this with stupidly choking a hot engine (another heat of the moment thing), so the thing's flooded full of fuel, and the kart ain't going nowhere. So a DNF, and several points lost. My championship's screwed unless I do Lydd, which both myself and family are not at all too keen on. I got the 4th fastest lap, and had I kept going through the field at the rate I was, I would probably have made it into the top 4 and the 'A'.

Draw your own conclusions from that little lot...

[crozier74]

Results here btw:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/super1/4t_kim.html

[crozier74]

WWOOOOOOOHHHOOOOO!!!!

That was my 500th post, and I'm now a veteran, great to do it in the karting forum

Cheers!